The e - Factor

I had been to my native's recently. Over-sleeping, living in a restaurant kind of house, where you can get all the food you want, gully-cricket, an evening visit to the Chaat corner, hitting the railway station bench and watching the sun set, revealing secrets, a walk back home in the chilling cold, munching on some capsicum puffs, watching TV sprawled on the floor, popping in some more chur-muri, delicious dinner, and finally hitting the bed, but not to sleep ... to chat ... talk your heart out, until the goddess of sleep envelops us, or the clock strikes 4am, and we close our eyes, dreaming of a visit to the village the next day ... the coconuts ... the village kids ... the slow life. That's the usual native experience.

This time ... all of the above were there ... coupled with sudden emotional outbursts ... nature paints a rosy picture of the life of everyone else surrounding us ... but little do we realize that behind every laughter, there could be an ocean of tears, hidden, and held. What we talked ain't really important, but suddenly, everyone felt this urge to reveal their carefully guarded emotions. Tears fell like tiny raindrops ... as everyone revealed their imperfections. I was not spared too ... in fact I was the first one to lose my composure. But what the heck makes us reveal our closest secrets to someone else ? And is this expression of an emotional outburst really healthy ?

One such SMS i got said "Never be too much expressive to anyone close to you because that might reduce the value of your emotions". Its obvious. Who would take seriously, such a person, who ends up crying at the drop of a pin ? When a person cries over his situation, to him/her, it is as big as the sky falling on top of us (or Himesh acting in a new movie). But little do we realize, that there are million others, who probably face situations a hundred times more grave than this, and yet, are a hundred times more composed. "I was crying that I did not have shoes, until I met a man on the street with no feet" says it all. An emotional outburst generally does not occur due to any one reason; its a pile-up of every event that causes a disturbance, and when the time is ripe, or the head can't hold it longer, it leaks out, or bursts open. Think about it another day, and you feel that you were being just plain stupid. And, tears carry value. They are priceless emotions. But if tears flow like a storm water drain in the rainy season, it does not necessarily achieve its objective. Wouldn't figuring out a problem, ourselves, be a better option, than creating a scene in front of everyone ?

But there's another view. Hiding emotions never did good to anybody. If a man can't laugh when he's happy or cry when he's sad, what's the difference between him and any other animal in the lower species ? And aren't emotions the only way to connect two people without actually saying anything ? Perhaps, not everyone's sensitive enough to figure out their problems, and may actually depend on an external support. In fact, I say this based on my own experiences, it ain't even necessary to ask someone for help. Sometimes, all it needs is, to talk to someone. People generally don't like advice, they just want someone to listen to them ... the burden gets reduced through the words and tears. Its said that "Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts". There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. And, when such 'thinking' becomes an addiction, it puts one into a vicious circle. Active discussion, in whatever form, can attempt to put a person out of such a circle. So what if a few tears are shed in the process, its known that shedding tears is healthy. Sometimes, there are things that can't be said to parents, talking it out with friends or your closed ones, is much better.

I have no idea which view to adopt. Perhaps, a good balance of both. If you feel like eating a chocolate, go eat it ... wear the outfit you've been dying to wear ... laugh your heart out when you are happy ... cry if you feel like to ... there is no cure for birth or death ... we just have to enjoy the interval in between !!